The best thing about the novel is that it once more illustrates Sudermann's sympathy for the outcast and the despised.
With less success Sudermann attempted in Johannes a tragedy on lines suggested by Hebbel.
In the pastor Sudermann attempts to paint the altruist in action.
It would seem that Sudermann was again attacked by his doubting mania.
Sudermann is still Klingsor, the evoker of artificial figures, not the poet who creates living men and women.
